Friend From The Past
by katwinchester
Summary: When an old friend from London shows up asking Ianto for help, neither they, or the rest of the Torchwood team realise how much danger they could soon be in.
1. Chapter 1

A/N. I wasn't going to post this new story until i finished New Beginnings, but i had this first chapter finished and i wanted to know what people thought. This is the first story i've written with Owen and Tosh in it so i'm getting used to writing them, hopefully i do ok. It's set after Adam, so everyone is still alive. This is just an idea that has been bouncing around in my head for a while. Kat :)

I own nothing sadly.

Chapter 1.

'Watch out!' shouted Gwen in Owens direction. He moved swiftly to the left, out of the way of the thing coming towards him.

'Got it' called Jack, as he managed to trap said creature, 'Still one left though.'

Jack, Owen, Gwen and Ianto were in an alley just off the Plass, having been drawn there by a Rift spike. Tosh had stayed behind to direct them. It turned out that the creatures that had come through were the size of Yorkshire terriers, fluffy and bright purple in colour. They would look quite cute if it wasn't for the razor sharp teeth and claws. They were also fairly smart as they were proving tricky to catch. The plan was to herd them together and then catch them into pet carriers that Ianto had managed to secure from a local pet shop. They could then be walked back over to the Hub without anyone seeing them. They had caught three and had one left.

'I see it,' said Ianto crouching down and pointing at a bin next to Gwen. 'It's gone behind there.'

'Right, Ianto, Gwen stand on one side, Owen go on the other with the basket and I'll move the bin. It'll only have one way to go.' They moved into position quickly and quietly. Jack carefully moved the bin forward. The creature looked up at them wide eyed, teeth bared, it knew it was trapped. Ianto and Gwen moved one step closer and it had no choice but to go in Owens direction. Unfortunately for Owen it moved so suddenly that it took him by surprise and the force of it shooting into the box caused him to lose his balance and fall on the floor. This resulted in Ianto and Gwen tying to stifle their laughter.

'Hey not funny,' grumbled Owen from his place on the floor, but the indignant look on his face just made them laugh harder. Jack took pity on him and offered him a hand to pull himself up with.

The four of them picked up the boxes and started walking back towards the Hub. They walked back across the Plass, the creatures in the box could be heard growling quietly. As they approached the tourist information office entrance they noticed a woman leaning against the railing near it. The way she kept glancing around made it look as though she was waiting for someone. She was an average height, blonde, around thirty and as Owen was quick to notice, pretty. She looked over at them as they approached, a smile appearing on her lips.

'She seems to know us, or at least one of us,' remarked Gwen. 'It's not me.'

'Me neither and I would definitely remember her,' said Owen.

The matter was resolved though when the woman got a little closer and said 'Ianto'. She spoke a little hesitantly, almost as if she wasn't sure.

Ianto moved away from the others a little, recognition crossing his features when he realised who the woman was. 'Jessie, I can't believe it's you.'

Then to the other threes surprise, Jessie closed the gap between her and Ianto and wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a hug, which he returned. Ianto wasn't generally known for showing such displays of affection. As they pulled apart Ianto said, 'So long time no see. You're looking good.'

Jessie gave a sad smile, 'Couldn't look any worse than the last time you saw me.' Her face then brightened a bit. 'You look good too.'

'Thanks. Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing here. This is the last place I ever expected to see you.'

'Yeah, I'm sorry to show up out of the blue like this, but I needed to talk to you. I need your help. I realise that's kind of cheeky as it's been ages since we last spoke, but you're the only person who can help.'

'It's ok, really. Just because we haven't spoken in a while, doesn't mean we stop being friends, if I can help I will. What is it?'

'It's sensitive, and I don't want to discuss it out here in the open. Plus we seem to be getting stared at,' she said looking over Ianto's shoulder to where Jack, Gwen and Owen were standing trying to look like they weren't eavesdropping, but failing miserably. Ianto looked round at them, he had momentarily forgotten they were there, such was his surprise to see Jessie.

'Sorry, these are my colleagues, Captain Jack Harkness, Owen Harper and Gwen Cooper. This is Jessie Miller.'

Jessie shook hands with the others, noting the rather inquisitive looks they were giving her. She felt like she was under fierce scrutiny. 'Pleased to meet you all,' she said.

Before any of them could start giving Jessie the third degree, Ianto spoke again. He knew they were going to want to know about her, but he wanted to tell them in his own way. 'Look, I have something to finish up, but meet me across the road at the coffee shop in half an hour.'

'Are you sure you have time now? I can wait till later.'

'Yeah I'm sure, I'll see you then ok?'

'Thank you,' she replied, then she turned and started walking away, leaving Ianto with his three team mates.

'How do you know someone that attractive, and more importantly why haven't you introduce us before?' asked Owen, who was following Jessie's retreating figure with his eyes.

'Jessie is an old friend, we used to work together. I haven't seen her in a couple of years. Even if we were in closer contact I wouldn't have introduced you, I'd want her to stay friends with me.'

Before Owen could retort, Gwen spoke up. 'Hang on, did you just say you used to work together?'

'Yes,' replied Ianto not willing to elaborate on it.

Jack, who had been quiet up until now, just watching the interaction between Ianto and Jessie, exchanged a glance with Owen. Both of them immediately knowing that Ianto had obviously worked with Jessie in London, and both hoping that Gwen wouldn't push the subject. These hopes were dashed when Gwen said, 'But that would mean she worked for Torchwood.'

'Yes she did,' came the rather quiet reply.

Sensing that Ianto didn't want to expand on this, Jack cut Gwen off before she could speak again. 'We need to get these creatures into the Hub and settled, not stand out here all day chatting.'

Ianto shot Jack a grateful smile and picked up the box he had put down while talking to Jessie, and walked into the tourist information centre. Jack and the others close behind. Jack resolving to get Ianto alone to talk to him.

X

Please review. x


	2. Chapter 2

A/N. First can i just say thank you so much for all the reviews and alerts for the first chapter of this, i'm happy it was so well recieved. :) Jessie doesn't appear in this chapter but you do still learn some more about her, you find more about what she needs help with in chapter 3. Enjoy the next chapter and please review. Kat :)

Chapter 2.

When the four Torchwood team members entered the main Hub, Tosh immediately came over to them, a curious expression on her face as she took in the pet carriers. 'So what were they? She asked.

'Vicious, fluffy, purple things,' replied Gwen, who kept casting glances at Ianto, clearly she still had questions about what had happened outside only moments ago.

'I'm going to sedate this one and run some tests on it, see what I can find out,' said Owen as he headed off towards the med bay.

'Good idea. Gwen, Tosh see if you can find anything on them in the databases. Ianto and I will take these ones down to the cells,' said Jack.

Ianto sighed internally, he knew Jack would make an excuse to get him alone, well that was nothing new, but this time he knew Jack would want to talk and usually when he got Ianto on his own talking was the last thing on his mind. He also knew that Gwen would be gossiping with Tosh in his absence. He walked with Jack to the cells, and they put the fluffy creatures into one of them. He made a mental note to get them some food and water at some point, although he had no idea what they ate. Ianto could tell that Jack was staring at him, no doubt trying to gauge his mood. Ianto turned and went to start walking out of the cells, but stopped when he felt a hand take hold of his wrist. He turned around to face Jack.

'Are you alright?' asked Jack, the concern evident in his voice.

'I'm fine,' replied Ianto automatically, his face impassive.

'I don't believe you,' answered Jack. He knew Ianto was a master at hiding his emotions, but Jack also knew that he was the one person that Ianto would open up to if the situation was handled right.

'Why not,' Ianto snapped back, now on the defensive.

'Because you've just seen someone who you were friends with in London, for the first time in years. You can't tell me that doesn't give you mixed feelings.'

Ianto sagged a little at Jack's words, losing some of his rigid posture. There was no point lying to Jack. 'It brings back memories seeing Jessie, sure.''

Jack moved his hand from Ianto's wrist to his hand in what he hoped came across as a reassuring gesture. 'You were close,' this was said as more of a statement than a question.

'Yeah, she was a part of the group of friends that I had there. She actually showed me the ropes when I first started.'

'And you haven't seen her since…' Jack paused wanting to phrase the question right. '…since you came here?'

'No, we've been in touch a few times, Christmas and birthday cards mainly, and maybe two phone calls.'

'I have to ask, did you tell her you worked her.'

'No, but I might as well have done. I mentioned once about working in the Tourist Information office when she asked what I was doing. Jessie's smart she would have figured it out, but she never mentioned and neither did I.' Ianto paused to take a breath before he continued. 'Look, Jessie did everything she could to put as much distance between herself and Torchwood. I think that's partly why we became distant, I'm still connected to it. I also think that at least initially we were too much of a reminder to each other of what happened in London. It worries me that she came asking for my help, because for her to do that it can't be anything good.' There he'd said it. He was more concerned than he had let on, even to himself.

'Whatever it is I'm sure it's not that bad, and if it is then we'll be here to help. I'll be here to help,' said Jack making it perfectly clear that whatever it was, Ianto was not to go through it alone.

'Really?' asked Ianto, 'I know you aren't exactly a fan of people who worked for Torchwood 1.'

'True, but they can't all of been bad. I mean look at you, you turned out alright,' Jack said brushing his free hand down Ianto's cheek. At the gesture Ianto leaned into the touch.

''If it helps Jessie and Yvonne Hartman never saw eye to eye.'

Jack smiled, 'Well, anyone who gave Hartman a hard time is fine by me,'

'I'd better go, Jessie will be waiting. Your not going to tell the others what I've just told you right?'

'I won't say anything but I expect Gwen has already got Tosh to bring up Jessie's personnel file on the database.'

Ianto rolled his eyes, 'Always has to know everything,' he muttered under his breath.

'I will try and keep them from asking you too many awkward questions. They only have to know what you want to tell them.'

'Thanks.'

Jack closed the gap between them and leant in to give Ianto a soft kiss. They walked back up to the Hub, Ianto left via the cog door and Jack made a move towards his office, only to change his mind and he went towards Tosh's desk. Tosh and Gwen were indeed looking at a personnel file.

'I knew this is what you'd be doing.' The two women looked round at him sheepishly at having been caught.

'Come on Jack, an ex Torchwood 1 employee shows up out of the blue asking for help and you aren't the least bit curious?' asked Gwen.

Jack couldn't help but think that this wasn't exactly the first time an ex Torchwood 1 employee had showed up here, but he pushed the thought aside. 'Of course I am,' answered Jack, he was particularly interested in how well she knew Ianto, but he wasn't going to say this out loud. 'But she's a friend of Ianto's so I trust what he tells me.'

'What did he tell you about her?'

'Classified,' said Jack and Gwen pouted at this. 'If Ianto wants to tell you about her then that's up to him. I don't want you, any of you, badgering him about this. You all know how touchy a subject London is.'

Tosh looked up at Jack and gave him a small smile. 'We know Jack, we're just looking out for Ianto.' _Well, I was Tosh thought to herself. _Tosh would admit that she was curious as to what Ianto's life had been like in London, how different he had been, but she would never dream of asking.

'As you've already looked, what's the file say,' asked Jack, pointing to what was on the screen.

Tosh turned back to the screen, 'Jessie Miller, born 1st of June 1980, married to Sam Miller, worked as a researcher in the archives at Torchwood 1. She has degrees in History and Classics. Her file indicates a few run ins with Yvonne Hartman resulting in her getting a couple of written warnings. It also looks like she was sent up to Torchwood House for a while. I also looked at more recent information, she got her PHD and is now a lecturer in history and classics, based at Warwick University, but currently on secondment to Cardiff.'

'Her life seems fairly normal now,' mused Jack. 'You said she was married, did you check her husband out?'

'Yes I did. Sam Miller also worked at Torchwood 1, he was a computer expert.' Tosh paused and her voice turned solemn, 'He's listed as one of the dead.'

Jack shook his head minutely. He could never get his head around what had happened at Canary Wharf. The arrogance of those at the top that bought the institution crumbling down around their ears, nearly the whole world. The loss of life had been catastrophic, only 27 survivors. The fact that any of them had survived was a miracle, and he had wondered in the past how they had managed it. 'Thanks Tosh. Can you two get back to doing what I asked now?'

Tosh nodded and closed the file down, pulling up instead a database of space creatures so that she could try and find the purple things. Gwen sat down next to her, looking sufficiently happy for the moment. Jack went down to the autopsy bay to see how Owen was doing, trying not to think about Ianto and the woman he was going to meet.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and also to those of you who have added this to alert/favourite, i really appreciate it. This chapter took me a while to get right, but i think it's ok now. In this chapter the mystery starts to deepen a little as we find out what Jessie is worried about. It will make more sense as the chapters go on. Please review, as this always inspires me. Kat :)

Chapter 3.

Ianto exited the Hub and made his way across the Plass to the small coffee shop across from the water tower. It was one of the few places he found the coffee bearable. He entered and scanned the room for Jessie, eventually spotting her towards the back typing on a laptop. He ordered two drinks and carried them over. 'Hey,' he said as he sat down opposite her and placed the drinks on the table. Jessie smiled and took the drink, she then closed down the lid on her laptop.

'Hi, I went and got this from my car, thought I'd get some work done while I waited. Not very successful though.'

'Anything interesting?'

'I'm teaching a module tomorrow on _The Iliad_.' Jessie paused to take a sip from her drink, there was a brief silence.

'I have to admit, I never thought I'd see you in Cardiff,' said Ianto quietly.

'Me neither, but I only had two options, Cardiff or Kings College, London.'

'Ah'.

'Precisely and as I've never set foot in London since…. I don't intend to start now no matter how much it would benefit my career. I didn't think Cardiff would be so bad, that I'd be able to avoid anything strange.'

'How's that working out for you?'

'Great,' Jessie replied sarcastically. 'I was here less than twenty four hours before I saw my first weevil.'

'They are everywhere, mainly the sewers though.'

'I'll bear that in mind.' There was another brief silence, before Jessie broke it. 'I really didn't mean to just turn up like this.'

'That's ok, just because we're not as close as we were, I'm always here for you.'

'You might not feel that way when you've heard what I have to say.'

'Seriously whatever it is just tell me and we'll deal with it.'

'Ok, you might not see the point in my story at first, but stick with me.' Ianto nodded in understanding. Jessie took a deep breath. 'It all started last week when I had my classes moved. The history department is undergoing a bit of a facelift so some of my classes were moved to the science block. Anyway some of my students started joking around and telling stories about all the weird things that go on down there and that people have been known to go down there and not come back.'

'Some kind of university myth,' commented Ianto.

'Exactly what I said, I told them to stop telling me stories and to get on with what they were doing. I have to admit though, the corridor the research labs are on are really quite creepy. After class though this one lad, Jake came up to me and said that while the others were joking about the stories, there was some truth to them. His roommate Ben worked for Professor Medwell and he came into uni one morning and no one's seen him since. Jake said that before he went missing Ben changed became really withdrawn, but he wouldn't say anything. Jake's tried everything he can to get hold of Ben, but he can't, apparently even his parents don't know what happened and the university have him down as a drop out. Jake said that others had gone missing too and they all worked for Medwell. I had no idea what to say, I could tell Jake wasn't lying though, he is genuinely fearful for his friend.'

'I take it you looked into this?'

'Yeah, curiosity got the better of me. I looked at the universities drop out figures and in the last eighteen months they have gone up sharply in the science department. I made some enquiries about Ben and discovered that he was reported missing to the police, and the last place he was seen was on campus. I then decided to look into Professor Medwell as there was barely anything on him on the staff intranet, not even a picture. I figured he was just a really tough person to work for, I mean research science is one of the most pressurized. Everyone I spoke to said Medwell was secretive and rarely ventured out of his lab.' Jessie paused to take another sip from her drink, 'Then two days ago I was back down in the science block and I bumped into Medwell, literally.'

Ianto looked as Jessie hesitated, and a fearful look crept into her eyes. 'What is it?'

'Professor Medwell isn't who he says he is, I recognised him immediately. It was Dr Morgan.'

At this name the colour drained slightly from Ianto's face. 'As in Dr William Morgan?' he clarified, Jessie nodded. 'But…but that's impossible he's dead.'

'Believe me I had the shock of my life when I realised, it was all I could do not to flee the building. I tried to snap a picture on my phone, but he was in his lab before I could get my phone out.'

'So you think there's some truth in these stories?'

'With him involved anything's possible. I have no idea what he's up to, but all the stories of strange happenings and disappearances started after he began working there. His research is top secret, and although Sam showed me some basic hacking skills, computers aren't really my thing so I couldn't find anything out that way.'

Ianto sat and thought for a moment, a number of different thoughts were swimming round his head at these revelations, then something struck him.

'Wait, did he recognise you?'

Jessie shifted uncomfortably in her seat, 'Yeah I think he did. I mean he was polite and all, but you could see the flicker of recognition in his eyes, and then the way he looked at me as he walked towards his room, sent shivers through me.'

'And this was two days ago?' Jessie nodded. 'Have you seen him since?'

'No although…It's probably nothing.'

'What is it?'

'Ever since I saw him I've felt like someone's been watching me, and I'm pretty sure someone's hacked my email. I'm probably just being paranoid.'

'We can't take that risk. I need to call Jack.' Ianto took his phone out of his pocket and pressed 1, Jack answered after three rings.

'Ianto, is everything alright?'

'I'm not sure. You need to hear what Jessie just told me, there's potentially a bad situation in the making.'

'Ok, bring her in, the others should hear it too.'

'Are you sure?'

'Yeah, it's not like this place is a secret to her.'

'Right, see you in five minutes.' Ianto snapped his phone shut and turned back to Jessie. 'Come on, we need to go and tell Jack about Morgan, he's waiting for us.'

'Hang on, what do you mean us?'

'You need to come too, I can't explain it like you can, and they'll probably have other questions.'

'You're telling me I have to go in…' Jessie pointed over at the water tower. She was starting to sound a little panicked and Ianto wondered if she might bolt.

'The Hubs not that bad.'

'I'm sure it isn't, but I thought I could tell you and you'd pass it on. I never considered I'd have to go in there. I..I can't.' Jessie all but whispered.

'Yes you can. It's nothing like Torchwood 1, the building or the people and I'll be there the whole time.'

'I know it's just I've spent so long running from anything like this, it takes a bit of getting used to again.' Jessie said with a sad smile. She packed up her laptop and stood up, swinging her bag onto her shoulder and following Ianto across the Plass, both of them unaware of the eyes trained on them. Ianto walked up to where the invisible lift was hidden by the perception filter and waited for Jessie who hesitated. Ianto held out his hand to her.

'You trust me right, I promise everything will be ok.'

Jessie sighed and then took Ianto's hand and together they stepped up on to the step. As the lift started to descend, Jessie got her first glimpse of Torchwood 3.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, i really appreciate the reponse i have had so far. Special mention to chironsgirl who mentioned something in her review that i hadn't factored in, so i wrote a little extra bit in. :) This chapter has a lot of talking in it again but i needed to have this in order for the plot to move on in the next few chapters. Please review. Kat :)

Chapter 4.

After Ianto's call, Jack had pulled up the Plass CCTV on his computer. He had told the others that Ianto was bringing Jessie in and that they would meet in the boardroom to discuss whatever the issue was. Jack watched as Ianto and Jessie walked over to the invisible lift. He saw Jessie's hesitation and he couldn't blame her for that. Then he watched as she took Ianto's extended hand and got on. Jack left his office and walked down the stairs to meet Tosh, Owen and Gwen who were all waiting near the lift. As Jack watched it descend he couldn't help but notice that Jessie was still holding Ianto's hand and he felt slightly jealous. No, he wasn't jealous he tried to tell himself, he had no reason to be. The problem was he couldn't shake the thoughts he'd been having about how this woman had shared a part of Ianto's life Jack knew nothing about, and they'd been close, he didn't think they'd been anything more than friends, but he didn't know for sure. Damn he was jealous. Jack had a hard enough time keeping his feelings for Ianto in check as it was, and feelings like jealousy only served to show just how hard he was falling for the Welshman.

The lift finished it's descent and Ianto and Jessie stepped off. Jessie let go of Ianto's hand, but stayed close to him. Ianto moved forward a little and said 'Jessie, you remember Jack, Owen and Gwen from earlier,' to which she nodded in confirmation. 'This, is Toshiko Sato,' he continued pointing to the only person Jessie hadn't seen yet.

Tosh smiled and held out her hand for Jessie to shake, 'Please call me Tosh.'

'So this is Torchwood 3' said Jessie as she took in her surroundings.

'Better than London? asked Gwen.

'I suppose. At least here you actually feel like you're in the base of a secret organisation. Canary Wharf was just like working in an office block, albeit one with aliens in it.' As she looked around Jessie heard a noise from above her that sounded like the flapping of wings followed by a screech. 'What the…' Jessie was speechless.

'That's Myfanwy, you get used to her,' replied Ianto.

'You gave a pet dinosaur,' Jessie said somewhat incredulously.

'Yep, long story.' Ianto sneaked a look at Jack and as their eyes met a small smile crossed both their faces as they remembered that encounter in the warehouse. 'How about I make everyone a drink and we go up to the boardroom.'

'About bloody time, I've been dying for a coffee since we got back earlier,' remarked Owen.

Ianto rolled his eyes 'I won't be long ok.' He directed this at Jessie as he could see her nervousness.

'Come on, I'll take you up there,' said Tosh. Ianto smiled at her gratefully, then he went into the small kitchen area and set about making them all a drink. He pulled a spare mug out of the cupboard for Jessie and set it with the others.

Up in the boardroom Jessie was feeling distinctively nervous about being with the others without Ianto. He had warned her that they might try and ask her questions, particularly Gwen, and had probably already read her personnel file. She sat and listened as they made small talk about the purple creatures they had caught earlier. She could tell they had questions, and she was also puzzled at the way Jack kept glancing at her with an expression she couldn't quite read.

Ianto soon appeared and handed out the drinks before taking his seat at the table. Jessie drank some of her coffee and smiled. 'I'd forgotten just how good your coffee was.'

Jack cleared his throat to get the attention of the room, 'What is it that you needed to tell us Ianto?'

'I'll let Jessie explain,' said Ianto.

Jessie then repeated what she had told Ianto in the café.

'You believe it was definitely Morgan?' asked Jack. He had never met William Morgan, but he'd heard the stories.

'Definitely, he's not somebody you forget.'

'Who's William Morgan?' asked Tosh.

'He was one of the head scientists at Torchwood 1, and a cruel man. He would do all sorts in the name of research. You did not want to be near his lab when he was experimenting on something.' Jessie shuddered at the memory. 'I'm just worried about what he might be doing.'

'This Morgan was supposedly dead right,' commented Owen. 'How come no one twigged he survived?'

'Think about it, the only people who would instantly recognise him are Torchwood 1 employees, most of whom are dead. If he disappeared off site before anyone saw him then he'd inevitably end up on the list of the dead,' replied Ianto.

'I wouldn't put it past someone as evil and slippery as him to get away,' added Jessie. 'It also wouldn't surprise me if he some sort of escape route for emergencies. He could easily have got away in the chaos.'

'So you have no idea how he could have got out,' asked Gwen looking at Jessie, and not really thinking her question through.

'Look, I could barely tell you how I managed to do it, let alone anyone else,' came Jessie's rather terse reply. The others glared at Gwen.

'Sorry,' said Gwen. 'I didn't mean for what I said to come out like that.'

Jessie sighed,' I know and I'm sorry for how I replied. I never saw Morgan that day as far as I remember. I understand too that you're curious, its human nature, but in this case the less you know about what happened that day the better, some of us don't have that luxury.'

Sensing the uncomfortable atmosphere in the room Jack tried to move on. 'Are you sure he'd remember you?'

Ianto sniggered, 'Oh he'd remember Jessie alright.' Jessie blushed as Jack, Owen, Tosh and Gwen all turned to look in her direction.

'What are we missing?' asked Owen.

'Erm..I may have accidentally ruined one of Morgan's experiments by setting his test subjects free.'

'Accidentally?' came Ianto's disbelieving reply.

'Fine, I purposely let them free. The guy was torturing these poor alien mice, that were completely harmless, so I liberated them and kept them safe in the archives. Anyway I didn't act alone, it's just I was the only one that got caught. I thought you might have seen that in my file.'

The two women opposite blushed and this confirmed that they had read her file. 'We saw you were written up a few times, but not what for,' answered Tosh.

'That was one of the things. Hartman was annoyed I wouldn't give up my co conspirators so she sent me to Torchwood House as punishment.'

'I've always wondered what that place is like,' mused Tosh.

'I'm a self confessed history geek so I loved it, which upset Hartman further because I wasn't supposed to enjoy it. That's where it all started though, Queen Victoria, werewolves, the Doctor, I mean what's not to love. I actually think Sam got punished more as he had to listen to all my stories.' Jessie smiled fondly at the memory.

'What about Archie though, that's guys weird,' remarked Owen.

'He is a little strange, you get used to him though, and believe me, it's better than working for Hartman.'

'You should try working for me, I'd put them all in the shade,' said Jack.

'Yeah, I bet you would,' laughed Jessie. Then turning to Ianto she said, 'You want to be careful telling stories on me, I have a few on you remember.'

'You wouldn't, challenged Ianto.

'Really, do the words Halloween and party mean anything to you,' she answered knowingly. Ianto immediately went red.

'What happened?' said Tosh, 'You can't say something like that then not tell us.'

'It was nothing, really unimportant,' said Ianto.

'Sorry my lips are sealed, Ianto has inventive ways to get revenge.'

'Tell me about it,' said Tosh and she went on to recount the time Ianto had put them all on deaf for a week as they fell so far behind with their paperwork and he was due to give a report to UNIT using it. As she listened Jessie noticed Jack looking over at her again and something suddenly clicked in her mind.

As the conversation died down the tone became serious and Jessie spoke again, 'So what do you think. You can tell me if you think I'm crazy, but I can't shake the feeling Morgan's up to something.'

'I agree we should look into it. What with his reputation and the sort of things he was involved in at Torchwood 1, I'd be happier knowing what he's doing. I'm also not convinced it's a coincidence he ended up near the Rift,' said Jack. The others murmured in agreement. 'We are going to need access to the University so tomorrow, Tosh you can go in with Jessie and see if you can get anything from there systems. For now though I want you to go through Jessie's laptop and see if you can find any system breaches. Gwen, I want you and Owen to go through missing persons reports to find anyone that has gone missing off campus and we'll compare it to the dropout records. Ianto, I want you to go through the Rift logs to look at any activity over the campus. I'm going to look into Morgan, we'll meet back here when we have something.'

After Jack finished speaking everyone got up to do their allotted tasks, except for Tosh and Jessie who stayed up in the boardroom. Jessie pulled her laptop out of her bag and booted it up, entering her password and then passing it to the tech expert. As it loaded a picture appeared on the background, there was a woman who was obviously Jessie and next to her was a handsome man, tall, brunette, he had chocolate brown eyes and was wearing a tux, while Jessie was wearing a white dress. It was a picture of their wedding day. 'That's a lovely picture,' commented Tosh softly.

Jessie smiled at her. 'It is. It was my favourite from the wedding. I couldn't look at them for a long time, but now I like being able to see Sam whenever want, especially after a bad day, it's oddly comforting. You probably think I'm weird now.'

'No I can understand you wanting to be able to look at a picture whenever you want. He was very handsome.'

'Yeah, I know I never thought he'd be interested in me. I was lucky to have him.' Jessie didn't mind talking about Sam, as long as it didn't involve talking about the last day she saw him. Tosh started to work on the laptop, pausing briefly to ask, 'Is there anything really personnel on here?'

'It's mainly my lecture notes and research. The only emails I tend to get are from work or my mother asking me when I'm coming to visit.'

'Ok.' Tosh got back to work, her fingers moving so fast they were almost a blur. 'Your security on here is top grade, yet someone's still managed to breach it. They've had a good look around and planted a virus that will activate and send back information when you use it.'

'Great,' muttered Jessie.

Tosh activated her comm to inform Jack, and he appeared back in the boardroom, bringing the others up with him.

'It seems that someone is taking an interest in you, so I don't think that staying in your flat tonight by yourself is a good idea in case they're watching that too. '

Before Jessie could say anything Ianto said, 'That's fine she can stay with me.'

'Is that such a good idea,' asked Jack. 'If they see you together it will be obvious Jessie's turned to us.'

'If they are watching then it's a bit late to worry about that as they would have seen us together earlier,' argued Ianto. Then looking at Jessie he asked, 'Is that ok with you?'

'That's fine by me if you really think it's necessary. I will need to go and collect some things though.'

'I can go with you to do that,' interjected Owen. 'I don't think I've been helping Gwen much.'

'Yeah I'll go through the files quicker on my own,' agreed Gwen.

'Good idea, go pick up what you need then meet back here. Gwen and Ianto keep going on your research. Tosh, do you think you can find the source of the security breach?'

'Give me a little time I'm sure I can.'

As Owen and Jessie stood up to leave Ianto called, 'Be careful.'

'She'll be fine, she's in my capable hands,' answered Owen.

'That's what I'm worried about,' replied Ianto. Owen glared at him before leaving with Jessie while the others got back to work.

Outside on the Plass the figure was still watching, waiting to see when someone would reappear. As Owen and Jessie came into sight on the Plass the figure took out his phone and dialled.

'She's on the move again.'

The gruff voice on the other end answered, 'take care of it.'

'What about the guy with her?'

'Take care of him too if you have too. They will not interfere with my plans.' The call was then disconnected and the man started to walk after Owen and Jessie, checking the gun in his pocket as he did so.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and who have added this to their favourites, i really appreciate it. :) I hope you enjoy this chapter. As always please review. Kat :)

Chapter 5.

The journey to Jessie's flat only took ten minutes. Jessie pulled up in her allotted space and both she and Owen got out. It was a first floor flat in a nice quiet area, not to far from the bay. It was a modest one bedroom, but Jessie wasn't going to be in the city longer than a few months so it did for her.

'Nice place', commented Owen as he took in the flat.

'It's not bad. I would have loved one with a view of the bay, but the places in that area aren't cheap.'

'You should see the views from my place, great views of the city. It especially looks good at night.'

'Sounds nice.' Jessie paused for a moment thinking about what she needed. 'Would you mind grabbing my backpack for me. It's in the cupboard in the lounge, I'll start getting some stuff together.'

Owen nodded and headed into the lounge, while Jessie went into her room, and started pulling things out of her wardrobe. Neither heard the sound of the front door being opened as the man who had been watching them entered the flat, quietly mumbling to himself about how old locks were so easy to pick. He crept along the hallway and peering into the bedroom he saw his target with her back to the door as she rooted through her wardrobe. He walked into the room, pushing the door closed behind him and crept up behind Jessie.

Jessie heard something behind her and turned figuring it was Owen coming into the room, but what she was about to say died in her throat as she was faced by a man who was definitely not Owen, and he had a gun pointed at her. Trying to buy herself sometime she said, 'Whatever you want just take it. I won't stop you.'

'I don't want anything. I'm just following orders.' The man made a move forward to grab hold of her and Jessie dodged him and tried to make a break for it. He was too quick though and grabbed a hold of her arm, striking her across the side of the face with his gun. Jessie cried out as she fell onto the floor.

Owen had been heading back towards the bedroom when he noticed that the front door was open. He instinctively reached for his gun. It was then he heard a scuffle and a cry. He raced into the room and saw Jessie lying on the floor with a man standing over her with a gun, finger on the trigger.

'Drop the gun' shouted Owen, pointing his at the stranger.'

'I have my orders.'

'I will shoot you if you don't put the gun down.' Owen didn't really want to have to shoot the guy though, when you actually looked at him, he only looked in his early twenties.

The man turned his attention fully to Owen then, turning round and firing at him first. Owen moved quickly and narrowly missed the bullet which imbedded itself in the wall behind where he had been stood. Jessie seized this chance and kicked out at him, knocking the guy standing over her off balance and he dropped his gun. She tried to crawl away, but he caught hold of her and hit her again. Owen meanwhile had gotten back up and seeing the guy had his attention distracted he got up and tackled him to the ground so that he was off Jessie. He attempted to punch Owen, but Owen was faster and blocked it. As the two fought Jessie was able to get out of the way. Eventually the guy got a punch in which caught Owen off guard and he was able to get up and flee. Owen chased after him, but lost sight of him once outside of the flat. 'Shit,' he swore loudly to himself, rubbing the side of his jaw. This was supposed to have been a simple task. He made his way back into the flat and saw Jessie sat leaning against the bed with her hand on her head, blood could be seen oozing through her fingers. He knelt down in front of her.

'Let me look.' He carefully moved her hand so that he could assess the wound. He got up and went into the bathroom to grab a wash cloth. 'Hold this against it and I'll fix it up properly back at the Hub. I don't think it's going to need stitches.'

'Thanks,' Jessie said, that one word loaded with emotion.

'No problem, lets get your stuff together and get out of here, it's obviously not safe anymore.'

Jessie got up carefully and then started throwing things into a bag, wanting to leave this place as quickly as possible.

X

Back at the Hub, Gwen and Tosh were still working hard at their terminals. Ianto took them both a drink before ascending the stairs to the office with Jacks. Ianto placed the drink down on Jacks desk wondering where he had gone as his seat was vacant. His question was soon answered when he felt strong arms wrap around his waist and pull him into a warm body. Ianto instinctively leant back into the embrace.

'Alone at last,' whispered Jack into Ianto's ear.

'So now would be the perfect time to work on those reports you've got piling up on your desk,' said Ianto innocently.

'Cheeky,' replied Jack, and he turned Ianto around, closed the gap between them and pressed their lips together. Jack ran his tongue across Ianto's lips asking for access which was quickly granted. The kiss deepened until the need for air pulled them apart. 'It's a shame this can't be continued later,' said Jack somewhat regretfully.

'One night won't kill you Jack'.

'It might,' pouted Jack. Ianto gave him a chaste kiss before saying, 'when this is all over I promise to make it up to you.'

Jacks eyes lit up, 'I'll hold you to that.' He paused before he asked the next question, something had been bothering him since he found out Jessie would be staying with Ianto. 'Where's she going to sleep?'

'Huh,' came Ianto's reply, not quite getting what Jack meant.

'Jessie, where's she going to sleep. The sofa bed in your spare room broke.'

'And who's fault was that,' said Ianto raising his eyebrow at Jack.

'Hey, it takes two to break a sofa bed.'

Ianto smiled at the memory of the activities that led to the demise of said sofa bed. 'Yeah, I really need to replace it, just haven't had the time. Must get a sturdier one though.'

'You didn't answer my question.'

'Jessie can have my bed, I wouldn't make her sleep on the sofa.'

'What about you?' Jack wasn't sure he why he was so bothered about asking these questions, something about this woman made him insecure and Jack Harkness didn't do insecure, well not usually.

Ianto gave Jack a questioning look before realisation dawned. 'Is this your not so subtle way of asking if I'm going to sleep with her.' Jack didn't answer, feeling slightly foolish for asking. Ianto took hold of Jacks hand and interlaced their fingers together. 'I will be sleeping on the sofa. Jessie and I were never more than friends.'

'The thought had crossed my mind it had been more,' admitted Jack. Ianto was taken aback by this new side of Jack, it was as though the older man was jealous.

'Jessie was already with Sam when we met and no one would have gotten between those two. They were perfect for each other.' Ianto smiled at the memory, before his expression turned a more solemn.

'What is it?' asked Jack softly.

'I just wish that I could think of the good memories that I have of London and not have them turn into bad ones.' Ianto paused wondering whether he was willing to let Jack in on what he was thinking. He never spoke about his past in London to anyone, not even Jack. He decided to go for it though, to show Jack how much he trusted him by letting him in. 'For instance having Jessie to stay reminds me of the last time we spent the night together, it was right after… after that day.'

Although Ianto couldn't say the words Jack knew that he meant after the day of the attack. He squeezed his hand to reassure him and hoped that he would continue.

'I stayed with Jessie that night. I'd found out she was still alive at the hospital after everything was over. Neither of us had anything seriously wrong so we were sent home after a debrief. We went to Jessie's, neither of us wanting to be alone. We just sat in there in shock for most of the night trying to get our heads round everything. I remember that her phone started ringing, the machine picking up all the messages, it wasn't until Sam's mum left one begging for them to get in touch and tell her that they were both alright because she'd seen the news, did Jessie finally breakdown. She started crying, I started crying and the next thing I know it's morning. I saw her a few times after that, but after seeing each other at our worst it was hard, and we both had things we had to do.'

Jack didn't need Ianto to elaborate to know what he meant. He also understood more now about the bond between Ianto and Jessie, and this made him feel better. To go through what they did was horrific, but they had come out the other side. 'Thank you for telling me that,' said Jack as he kissed him gently and then pulled him into a hug.

The cog door alarm sounded as it rolled open and they pulled apart, Ianto straightening his tie and walking out of the office. As soon as he took in the sight of Owen with his arm around Jessie and holding something to her head he sped down the stairs, Jack close behind. Owen sat Jessie down on the sofa before heading to the med bay for a first aid kit.

'What happened?' asked Ianto as he gently pulled the cloth away from Jessie's head.

Jessie winced, 'Someone tried to kill us. I think they were after me, but Owen stopped them so they tried to kill him too.'

'You ok Owen?' asked Jack as the medic reappeared and knelt in front of Jessie to clean the wound.

'Yeah, lucky git got one punch in though.'

'Did you get him?'

'No, he got away. I was more concerned about Jessie.' Owen put some gauze over the wound and taped it up. 'You don't need stitches thankfully. Just leave this on for a day or two until it starts to heal.'

'Thank you.'

Tosh and Gwen had made their way over and were now listening as between them Owen and Jessie recounted what happened.

'Tosh see if you can get anyone fleeing the area on CCTV. Ianto take Jessie home, and make sure you use the underground exit in case anyone else is loitering up top. Tomorrow we are going into the university to try and get to the bottom of this,' Jack said in a firm voice, something bad was obviously going down and whoever was behind it seemed like they would stop at nothing to protect what they were doing.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N. Hi, sorry for the delay in posting this chapter, i've had a mad couple of weeks at work. Thank you for the reviews for the last chapter it is much appreciated. Enjoy and please review. Kat :)

Chapter 6.

Jack had sent everyone home as it was getting late, and they had a long day in front of them at the university tomorrow. He didn't particularly want to spend the night alone in the hub, he'd got used to Ianto's company, but he would have to make do for the night.

Ianto and Jessie had left via the underground exit to get to Ianto's car. They got to his flat without any signs that someone might be following. When they entered Ianto went straight into the kitchen and Jessie followed.

'This is nice, I see you still have a great book collection,' Jessie said taking in the book shelves that she could see from the doorway into the lounge.

'Yeah, just a shame I don't get much time to read them now.'

'That's the beauty of what I do now, readings kind of a prerequisite.'

'Are you sure about going in tomorrow?' Ianto asked.

'I'm a little nervous maybe, but we need to find out what's going on and until we do I'm obviously not going to be safe.' she replied ruefully.

'What if your students ask questions about your head.'

'I'll come up with something. Can we not talk about that now, pretend everything's ok just for tonight.'

'Sure.' Ianto handed Jessie a drink, and then headed into the lounge to sit on the couch, Jessie sitting next to him.

'Should I put my stuff in your spare room?' Jessie asked, realising she had left her bag by the door.

Ianto blushed slightly. 'Put it in my room, you can stay in there, I'll take the couch. The spare beds no good, and I haven't got round to getting a new one.'

'Ok, if you're fine with that. I don't mind the couch.'

'I couldn't let you do that you my guest.'

There was silence for a moment as both took sips of their drinks. Jessie regarded Ianto for a moment before just going for it, and asking about something that had been playing on her mind. 'So, can I ask you something?' Ianto nodded. 'It's about you and Jack.'

Ianto nearly spat out the coffee he was drinking, but managed to keep it in. He swallowed and then looked at Jessie. 'What about me and Jack?'

'There's something going on between the two of you.' It was more of a statement than a question. Ianto knew Jessie had always been observant but he was still surprised.

'What makes you say that?' He was avoiding the question, partly because he wanted to see what she thought she knew and also because he never knew how to explain his relationship with Jack.

'For a start it's obvious you are a lot closer to him than any of the others. The looks you give each. Then it took me a while to figure it out, but Jack kept looking at me funny, at first I thought he was just trying work me out, except I realised when I was talking about old times it was jealousy. Plus when you came out of his office earlier when I got back with Owen, both of you had kiss swollen lips, so unless there was someone else up there you have hidden, it had to be the two of you. Come on spill.'

'You want details?'

'Well, I don't need every detail, but some would be good. How longs it been going on?'

'It's complicated.' Ianto replied.

'Relationships always are.'

'When it first started it was just sex, then things started to change. Jack went away for a while and after that he asked me out on a date, and we've gone out a few times since then.'

'So you're a proper couple now.'

'I wouldn't say that, Jack would never use that word. I don't really know what it is, but whatever it is seems to be working so I'm not going to rock the boat by trying to talk to Jack about it. He doesn't like labels.' Ianto took another drink, then said, 'So your not bothered by this.'

'Why would I be. I'm happy that you've met someone you obviously care a lot about and that's great.'

'Thanks. What about you, have you seen anyone else.'

'I've been on a few dates, but nothing serious, it's never felt right. I know Sam would want me to move on and be happy, and when the time is right, I will. I think these things happen when you're not expecting them.'

'Tell me about it, I never expected this to happen with Jack.'

Jessie smiled, 'He's lucky to have you.'

After that Ianto and Jessie talked about mundane things trying to keep their minds off the day ahead. When they both eventually went to bed, sleep was a long time in coming to both.

X

The next morning Ianto and Jessie met up with the others at the Hub, Owen grumbling about having to be in early.

'Why do you have a seminar at 9am, surely that's just cruel.'

Jessie laughed, 'I'm sure my students would agree with you, but I don't have anything to do with the timetabling.'

'Right, so we all know what we're doing today?' asked Jack. The others all nodded. 'Good lets get going and hopefully we can find out what's been going on.'

Jack, Tosh, Owen and Ianto were all heading to the University with Jessie, while Gwen was going down to the police station to see what information she could get on the list of missing students she had complied. When they reached the uni, Jessie led them down the corridors of the humanities building to her office.

'Nice office,' said Jack upon entering, 'spacious.' Ianto shot him a look that clearly told him not to get any ideas.

'Thanks. I just need to put up a sign saying my office hours are cancelled so you don't get disturbed by people turning up later.' Jessie took a sheet of paper from her nearby printer to write on and then stuck it on her door.

They were using the office as a base for their operations at the uni. Ianto was setting up a portable rift monitor that they had to keep track of any spikes that occurred there. During her research yesterday Tosh had discovered that there had been a few spikes at the uni over the past few months, but none of them had been big enough to trigger the alarm. Tosh was going with Jessie into her lecture so that she could try and get into the science blocks network. Owen was going with them too, just to make sure there was no trouble. Jack was going to see what he could find out about the so called Professor Medwell. Owen, Tosh and Jessie left to go down and set up in the room that they would be using. Once the door was closed Jack wrapped his arms around Ianto and pulled him into an embrace.

'I hope you not getting any ideas Jack.'

'I have a few, but they can wait. I just missed you last night.'

Ianto kissed Jack and then went back to setting up the equipment. Jack stood back and smiled as he watched him bend down to pick up a bag from the floor. He could feel Jack watching him, so said, 'You could help me.'

'I could, but I'm having much more fun admiring the view.'

Ianto rolled his eyes, 'Don't you have some information to go and get.'

'Ok, I'm going, I'll be back soon.' Jack then left leaving Ianto alone in the office.

X

Jessie led Tosh and Owen to the room she was teaching in. 'I hope this isn't going to be to boring for you. Listening to my seminar is probably not high on your list of things to do.'

'It'll be ok,' answered Tosh smiling. She went to the front of the classroom and started setting up her things next to the rooms computer equipment.

'I'm going to go and have a look around, contact me if you need me.' said Owen and he left the class, just as the students started to file in.

'What happened to you Jess?' asked one of the students as they sat down in their seats and took in Jessie's appearance, the large white gauze covering her head wound.

'I was mugged on the way home last night, but I'm ok.'

'If you need anyone to walk you home later I'd be more than willing,' answered one of the male students.

'I bet you would, but I'll be fine, it's being handled. Anyway today is going to be a little different. I've had to cancel my office hours because my office is in use, so we're going to have our usual group discussion first and then you can use the rest of the time to work on your final essays and if you need to speak to me you can. Questions?'

'Yeah, who's the newbie?' one of them asked pointing over at Tosh.

'That is Toshiko and she is here to audit the class, I expect you all to make her feel welcome.'

'I'd make her feel very welcome,' replied the lad from earlier.

'Yeah, and I can still fail you for inappropriate behaviour.' The lad quickly shut up and Tosh had to stifle a giggle. 'Anyway today's discussion is going to separate those of you that have actually read _The Iliad _from those of you that have merely watched _Troy_ and think that will do.'

As the seminar went on Tosh made progress with hacking into the university system and in particular the science division. She found that some of the research students had been posting up results to their research and her eyes widened as she took in the figures scrolling on the screen. About ten minutes before the end of the lesson a loud sound was heard coming from the room next door. Then the lights in the room started to flicker before they went out completely.

'Ok, nobody move until the emergency lights come on,' said Jessie, 'and please keep it down.' Almost immediately the emergency lights came on. 'Right everyone get your things together and leave the room sensibly.' The class quickly left the room and as Jessie was about to turn to Tosh and ask what was going on, Owen burst back into the room.

'What the bloody hell was that, the whole blocks lost power.'

'We need to get back to the others,' said Tosh. 'I think I have an idea of what he's doing.'

Tosh hurriedly got her stuff together and they went back over to Jessie's office, where all the lights were thankfully on. As they entered the office Ianto said, 'I was just about to contact you, there was a big rift spike. Jack's on his way back.'

As if on cue Jack came back into the room and they told him and Ianto what had just happened.

'So what is it Tosh?'

'I managed to get into some of the files and it's not good. Some of the figures looked familiar and my first thought was that he was opening the rift.' The others looked at her horrified at this thought.

'He's not though, right?' said Jack.

'No I realised a lot of the work the students have been doing is about parallel worlds. I think he's been trying to open up doorways to parallel worlds.'


	7. Chapter 7

A/N. Hi, sorry for the delay with this chapter. I had a week without my laptop and then when i got it back i lost my momentum a little and it took me ages to get this chapter right. Anyway on with the next chapter, enjoy. Please review as it really does help to spur me on, and i'd like to get my review count up to at least 25. Thank you. Kat :)

Chapter 7. 

'What!', came the simultaneous replies of the others.

'You're kidding right?' said Owen, hoping Tosh had misread something.

'No, I wish I was. Looking at some of the data I realised it looked like some of that from London. I only ever got a glimpse at part of the programme they were using for there so called 'ghost shifts', but the data was similar to this. I think he's trying to recreate it. Although there is a plus side.'

'A plus side?' queried Jack.

'Yeah, at the moment it seems that these doorways or portals, are only going one way. They are opening up briefly and letting people through, but nothings getting back to this side.'

'Hence the missing students. He's sending them through to test it and they get stuck.' said Jack.

'Most likely,' replied Tosh. 'I really need to get back to the Hub to try and get a fix on what he's doing so I can come up with some kind of countermeasure.'

'Why don't we just go down to the lab and destroy all his equipment?' asked Owen.

'As much as I would love to do that, we have no idea what is going in that lab. Morgan is going to have all sorts of things in place to stop unwanted visitors.' reasoned Jack. 'We need to find out about the lab layout before we go steaming in there. The last thing we need is any of us getting pulled into some parallel world.'

There was silence for a moment as everyone took in what was happening. Jessie had been quiet throughout, at the mention of parallel worlds she had gone visibly pale and sat down.

'Jessie, you ok?' Ianto asked.

'No, I knew I should have got out of town when I saw Morgan.'

'If you had we wouldn't have known what was going on until it was too late.'

'Great,' she replied sarcastically. 'I can't believe this is happening again. I knew he would be doing something bad, but this… I can't go through this again.'

Jack moved so that he was stood in front of Jessie. 'This isn't going to be like London.'

'How do you know? How do we know what could come out of those portals if he manages to get them working the other way, what if they come back through.'

Nobody in the room had to ask what she meant, they all knew she was talking about the Cybermen and Daleks.

'We are going to find a way to stop him before anything comes through onto this side, I promise.'

Jessie smiled sadly, 'Yeah well the last person that promised me anything was Sam, he promised me we'd both get out of Torchwood One ok, but look how that turned out.' Jessie stood up and headed for the door. 'I'm sorry but I just can't do this.' She opened the door and fled down the corridor before anyone could stop her.

'I'll go after her,' said Ianto.

Jack nodded. 'We need to get back to the Hub and come up with a strategy. I know Jessie wants nothing to do with us right now, and I understand her reasons for that, but it's not safe for her to be on her own.' It was Ianto's turn to nod before he too left the office. Jack sighed as he watched Ianto take off down the door, this wasn't going to be easy and he hoped that Gwen had had better luck than them.

X

Ianto hurried down the corridor trying to catch up with Jessie. He reached the end of the corridor and looked to see which direction she had most likely taken. Turning right led down another corridor, while turning left led to a door going outside. He turned left figuring that Jessie would probably want to get some fresh air. He walked out of the door and saw Jessie sat on a low wall looking out over the courtyard between buildings. He moved next to her and asked, 'Is it alright to sit down?' Jessie nodded and he took a seat next to her.

'Sorry I freaked out,' she said quietly.

'That's ok, everyone understands.'

'I was just feeling really claustrophobic in that office with all the talk of parallel worlds.' Jessie shuddered slightly. 'Didn't get very far though.'

'I know you don't want to be involved, but you really should come back with us because until we stop Morgan you're not safe.'

'No one is, especially the students.' She paused for a moment before continuing. 'I can't believe this is happening. My life is supposed to be normal now, I'd thought I'd escaped all this. Maybe you can never truly escape Torchwood.'

'Once this is all over it can go back to that.'

'It can't though really can it. I'm always going to know what's out there and what could happen.'

'Would you want to go back to being in the dark though?' asked Ianto curiously.

'Honestly, no. I was offered retcon after Canary Wharf, but I refused because forgetting all that would also mean forgetting Sam and that's something I'm not prepared to do. Knowing the truth does have it's upside, because I have to admit it is funny sometimes seeing what excuses the government try and come up with when something alien happens.'

'Oh yeah, they come up with some truly awful cover stories. Mine are always much better.'

'I can believe that.'

'So you're going to come back with us.'

'Sure.'

Ianto was just about to let Jack know that they would meet him and the others at the SUV when a voice sounded from behind him.

'Both of you, stand slowly, no sudden movements.'

Ianto and Jessie both stood up and turned to find two men stood behind them that they hadn't heard sneak up on them. Ianto slowly moved his hand towards his gun, but was stopped when the two men raised their own weapons and pointed them at Jessie. 'Slowly take out your gun and put it down on the ground, if you even attempt to shoot one of us, she dies.' Ianto did as he was told, there was no way he could shoot both of the men before one of them shot Jessie. 'I also want you to put down your phones and communication devices.' These guys were smart, they obviously weren't any of the students that Morgan had been using, these were professionals. Jessie and Ianto put down there phones and Ianto took his comm off, activating it as he did so in the hope Jack would overhear.

'What is it you want?' asked Ianto as he bent down to place his comm on the wall.

'Dr Morgan wishes to speak to you, we are here to escort you and make sure you co operate.'

Ianto looked over at Jessie and although he could see the panic in her eyes, he was impressed at the way she was staying calm. One of the men took hold of Jessie and started to lead her away, while the other man took hold of Ianto.

X

Jack, Owen and Tosh had been gathering together their things when Jacks comm had crackled into life. 'Ianto,' Jack said, but got no reply. Instead he could hear Ianto asking someone what they wanted and then a strange male voice say something about Morgan. 'Tosh can you get a fix on Ianto's comm?' he asked trying not to panic.

Tosh pulled out her PDA and pushed a few buttons to bring up Ianto's location. 'He's just outside, down the corridor then turn left. Why?'

'I think he might be in trouble,' answered Jack running off out of the door with Owen and Tosh close behind. When he got outside the door he couldn't see anyone around, but then he noticed on the low wall a gun, two phones and a comm unit. He went over and picked it up.

'Shit,' muttered Owen as he walked over. 'Someone's taken them, haven't they.' It wasn't a question so much as an observation.

Jack didn't speak as he was angry, angry that someone that they were supposed to be protecting had been taken, along with that a member of his team, and not just any member of his team, Ianto. If they hurt him in any way then Jack would make sure that they paid for it. They needed a plan and they need it now.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N. Firstly, a big thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, you guys rock. :) Secondly i now have a beta. So a big thank you to JolinarJackson, who has helped to improve this chapter. I hope you enjoy this chapter and as always please review. Kat x

Chapter 8.

Jack was pacing in his office. He had been pacing in the Hub, until Tosh had told him that he was interrupting her concentration and if he wanted to get Ianto back sooner rather than later he'd have to get out of her way. She was trying to make better sense of the data they had retrieved from the university. Jack was waiting for Gwen to come to back, as she had rang to say she had some useful information. As soon as he had realized Ianto and Jessie had been taken, he had wanted to go after Morgan. Owen had then reminded him of his words earlier about how that could make things worse. They needed a proper plan, rather than the gung ho approach. Reluctantly, Jack had agreed. Owen had stayed behind at the university though to keep an eye on the situation. As soon as the cog door alarm sounded to signal Gwen's arrival, Jack was out of his office and down the stairs, taking them two at a time.

'What did you find out?' Jack asked as soon as he reached the main Hub.

'Can't a girl at least get in the door first?' said Gwen. One look at Jack's face told her this was no time for humour. 'What did I miss?'

'Someone's taken Ianto and Jessie.'

'What?' Gwen exclaimed. 'You couldn't have told me this on the phone? I would have driven faster.'

'We don't know how much time we have so I'm really hoping that whatever information you have really is significant.'

'It is. I went to talk to Andy about all the students who have gone missing in the past few months. There have been quite a few, none of them have ever been heard of since, except one.' Jack looked at her quizzically, so she continued. 'Ollie Vaughan went missing about a month ago, but turned up at his parent's house a week later, he won't say where he went or why.'

'We need to talk to him, he's got to know what's going on in that lab.'

'That's why I have this,' said Gwen, holding up a post it note with an address on it.

'What are we waiting for then?' said Jack as he grabbed his coat, calling over to Tosh that they wouldn't be long and to update him on any progress she made. Jack and Gwen got to the SUV and Jack jumped into the drivers seat. Gwen got into the passenger seat, only just having time to put her seat belt on before Jack floored the accelerator.

'I know this is urgent, but please can we get there in one piece?' she said as she held on to the door, as the SUV went flying around a corner. Jack slowed down a little, but not much, the fines could be dealt with later.

Ten minutes later they were pulling up outside a small house on the outskirts of the city. Jack and Gwen both got out of the car and walked up to the door, which Jack knocked on loudly. The door was opened carefully and a young lad of about twenty cautiously peered around the door. 'Can I help you?'

Gwen stepped forward, 'Are you Ollie Vaughan?'

'Yeah, what's this about?'

'We need to talk to you about Doctor Morgan, although you know him as Professor Medwell.'

'Sorry, don't know who you're talking about,' Ollie replied and he went to shut the door. He wasn't quick enough though as Jack put his foot in the door to stop him and then pushed it open and entered the house, Ollie trying to protest behind him, but having no effect. Jack turned to face the young man.

'We already know you know exactly who we are talking about, you were one of his students, until you disappeared. We need to know what he's up to.' Jack looked at Ollie and could see the fear in his eyes.

'I can't tell you, if he even finds out that I'm still around, I don't know what he'll do.'

Gwen walked up to him and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. 'Look, if you help us, we can make sure he doesn't hurt anyone else.'

Ollie looked between Gwen and Jack before sighing. 'Ok, come through.' He then led them into a small lounge and indicated for them to sit down. 'I was told that we would be researching the theory of parallel worlds and how travelling to them might be possible. It was great at first, Medwell really seemed to know his subject, but then the experiments started. He actually made portals appear in the lab. Some thought they were illusions but then my classmates started disappearing, they'd walk into these portals and never come back.'

'So why'd you disappear, why not tell someone what was going on?'

'I fled because it was supposed to be my turn to go through a portal, to see if this time they would work both ways. I got scared. As for telling anyone, who'd believe me?'

'We need to know how to get into the lab. What kind of security measures are there?'

'There's a few. There is a finger print scanner to get into the main door, and he's got people working for him that aren't connected to the university. The guy's seriously paranoid. He's also got alarms set up all over the place for when he's not in the lab, which is rare.'

'Is there any other way in?' asked Jack.

'Yes, he has an escape route. One of the first things he ever told us was that you always needed an escape route, that should always be the first thing you sort out because you never know when it will be needed. He said something about a previous job that went wrong, and how he'd had to flee.'

_A previous job that went wrong_ is something of an understatement, thought Jack. 'Do you know where it is.'

'It comes out into the basement of the university.'

'I'm going to need you to tell us how to get to it.'

X


	9. Chapter 9

A/N. Thank you to JolinarJackson for her beta work to improve this chapter. I also want to say thank you to rosieposy and specialfrancine for their reviews for the last chapter, i really appreciate it. I hope you enjoy the next chapter. Please review. Kat :)

Chapter 9.

Ianto looked around trying to get a sense of his surroundings. He was in a room adjacent to one of the main labs in the science block. Ianto could see a few tables with small pieces of equipment on them, and he could also tell the room was soundproofed, not surprising really, Morgan wouldn't want anyone hearing what was going on inside these rooms. He hadn't been able to look at the main lab much as he'd been roughly shoved through into this room and then handcuffed to a pipe on the wall. Jessie was in a similar position next to him. They were alone, but they could see shadows moving behind the small frosted glass window in the door, which meant they were being guarded.

'We're screwed, aren't we?' said Jessie, speaking for the first time since they were brought into the room.

'No,' replied Ianto, hoping he sounded a lot more confident than he felt. 'The others will come up with something.'

'Not that I want to cast doubt on the abilities of your team, but they have no idea where we are, and even if they did how are they going to get in?'

'They will come up with something.'

Jessie sighed, 'I hope so.'

Silence fell between them again, but this was soon interrupted by the door opening and two men walking in. The first was one of the men that had brought them into the room, the other was Morgan. He looked just as Jessie and Ianto remembered him, tall with greying hair, a white lab coat, and glasses perched on the end of his nose. Morgan was the epitome of a mad scientist. He walked up to Jessie and stood in front of her.

'I couldn't believe it when I saw you in the halls. Of all the people to run into it had to be you. I knew as soon as I saw you that you'd be trouble, always were.'

'I hope you don't expect an apology.' Jessie replied defiantly. She was scared, but was trying her hardest not to let it show.

'Just like before you're trying to ruin my experiments by running to Torchwood 3. They won't be able to do anything though, they were always the lowest of the Torchwoods.' Morgan said disdainfully.

'I think Torchwood 3 is more capable than you think,' said Ianto trying to draw Morgan's attention away from Jessie.

'Well, you're one of them so you would say that. I can't understand why you would want to go and work for them after working for London, talk about trading down.'

'My reasons for where I choose to work are not of your concern.'

'Maybe not, but for now you are both going to do something for me.'

'I'm doing nothing for you,' answered Jessie. She regretted her defiant tone as the second man in the room pointed his gun at her.

'Do you really think you have a choice?' asked Morgan.

'You have to stop what you are doing,' said Ianto trying to stall for time. 'Messing with parallel words will only end badly. Did what happened at Canary Wharf not teach you anything?'

'I'll admit Canary Wharf did not go as planned. Yvonne Hartman didn't understand all the complexities involved with what I was trying to do. This time though I am free to do what I need.'

'Which is what?' asked Ianto. 'What are you trying to achieve?'

Morgan took a step back so that he could look at both Ianto and Jessie. 'Think of the possibilities. All of these worlds out there for us to explore, the things we could learn from them.'

'Learn from or take from?' asked Ianto disbelievingly.

'There are worlds out there that will have technology and resources we could only dream of. If bringing them here benefits us then so be it.'

'What you're doing is dangerous. You think you can just walk into some parallel world, take their technology and they won't notice?' Jessie said incredulously. 'What if they get through here and start a war, it'll be Canary Wharf all over again.'

'No, it won't because I have control.'

'Yeah, that's what Yvonne Hartman thought,' muttered Ianto.

Morgan decided to change tactics. He stepped back up to Jessie. 'What if by travelling to these worlds you could find Sam again? He died at Canary Wharf right, but what if you could have him back?'

Jessie visibly paled at the mention of Sam and Ianto could see the tears forming in her eyes. Using Sam was not a smart move.

'Sam's dead,' said Jessie, although it came out as barely a whisper.

'Not in another world, he isn't. Imagine if you could find him and be together again.' Morgan clearly thought this idea would entice Jessie, but he was mistaken.

'No,' said Jessie. 'It might be true that there is another Sam out there, but he wouldn't be my Sam. No one could ever replace him. You're more delusional than I thought.'

'Fine, I tried to be nice. You,' Morgan gestured to the man with the gun. 'Take her next door, she can be my next test subject.' Morgan walked back over to the door to the lab without saying anything else. As the man walked over to Jessie, Ianto attempted to get out of his restraints but it was futile.

'Leave her alone,' he shouted desperately, knowing it would do no good.

The man just smirked at him and pulled Jessie away from the pipe on the wall. She immediately started to try and pull out of his grip, but he held on tight.

'If you don't stop struggling, I will shoot you,' he said.

'Fine, shoot me, I'd rather that than taking part in some insane guys experiment,' replied Jessie and she attempted to pull away again. The man pulled her against him harder this time and raised his gun, but instead of pointing it at her he pointed it at Ianto. 'Okay, how about this, you keep struggling I'll shoot your friend.'

Jessie immediately stilled. 'No. It's okay I'll go.'

'Good girl,' replied the man and he forcefully pushed her through the doorway into the lab leaving Ianto alone in the other room.

Ianto slumped against the wall, his only hope now was Jack. He hoped Jack had heard something when he switched his comm on, and that he had figured out a way to get to them. The only problem was time was running out, he had no idea how long it would be before Morgan did something bad to Jessie. Out of the corner of his eye Ianto thought he saw movement by the far wall. He shook his head, it had looked as though one of the floor tiles had moved. Then he saw it again, faint movement. Just as Ianto was certifying himself as crazy, the tile was lifted up completely and then Jack's head came into view, quickly followed by the rest of him as he hauled himself up from the hole in the floor. He then extended his hand back down, and helped to pull up Tosh, who was then followed by Owen. Jack surveyed the room and grinned as he saw Ianto.

'How on earth did you…' Ianto trailed off, still slightly shocked from Jack and the others appearing from what seemed to be some kind of hidden trapdoor.

'I have my ways,' said Jack walking over to Ianto. 'Aren't you a sight for sore eyes,' Jack said taking in the fact Ianto was currently handcuff to the wall.

Ianto rolled his eyes, 'I don't think now is the appropriate time, do you?'

Jack just shrugged and set about freeing Ianto from the cuffs. 'I thought you would have been able to get out of these,' he said raising an eyebrow.

'Maybe I need more practice, I'm not usually the one wearing them, am I?'

'Oh, I did not need to hear that,' said Owen making his way over to the pair. 'What you and Harkness get up to in your own time, should be kept to yourselves.'

Jack just grinned at Owen and then said, 'There you go,' as he got the cuffs off Ianto.

'Thanks,' replied Ianto rubbing his wrists. 'We need to get in to the lab next door. Morgan had Jessie taken in there, said he was going to use her for an experiment.'

'Okay, do you have any idea of how many people are next door, other than Morgan.'

'There's at least two men in there that are armed, but I suspect there's more.' Ianto said, then he came to a realization, 'Where's Gwen?'

'She's out in the main corridor, when we give her the signal she'll come in that way.'

'I still don't understand how you managed to get in here.'

'We can explain that later,' replied Owen. 'Right now we need to get to Jessie and shut down Morgan's experiment.'

'Can't we just shut down the power?'

'No,' answered Tosh. 'If the systems running the portals aren't shut down properly they could go out of control, and we'll have portals popping up everywhere. Either that or everything will explode.'

'Okay, I'm for shutting down the systems correctly,' Ianto replied.

'Right, when we get next door, the three of us and Gwen will keep the way clear for Tosh to get on with what she needs to do. You might be needing this,' said Jack pulling Ianto's gun from his pocket and handing it to him.

'Thanks.'

They got into position behind the door and waited while Jack checked that Gwen was ready. The anticipation could be felt in the air, and Ianto just hoped that they weren't too late.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N. Hi, sorry for the long delay in posting this chapter. I'm back at Uni doing a really intensive course, so it takes up a lot of time. I hope the wait has been worth it. There is only one chapter left after this one, and i will try to get it up within the next two weeks. Thank you for all your reviews for the last chapter, and please let me know what you think of this one. Also a huge thank you to my beta JolinarJackson. :) Enjoy and please review. Kat xx

Chapter 10. 

Inside the lab Jessie was contemplating her options, which she had to admit were severely limited. She realized that she only had two, the first was to play along and hope that someone could mount a rescue before she ended up going through a portal, or the second, attempt to make a run for it. She decided on playing along for now and attempting to stall, as there were three armed men in the room, as well as two students and Morgan. Jessie knew she would never make it to the door in time and even if she could it was probably locked. Morgan was standing at one of the computer terminals typing in a very complicated looking code. The buzzing of machines was all that could be heard, the students were also working at computers, they were looking at Jessie curiously, but obviously didn't dare question why she was there. They were probably glad they weren't the latest test subject Jessie thought to herself. Jessie was stood near what looked like goal posts. This seemed to be where the portal would appear. She was looking around the room when her breath caught in her throat. The door where she had been brought through from the other room cracked open ever so slightly. Jessie knew that she had to divert everyone's attention away from that door.

'I have a question,' she asked looking a Morgan.

Morgan looked up at her, 'What is it?'

'I just wondered what the point was of using me as a test subject?'

Morgan looked at her as if he didn't understand the question.

'I assume you haven't fixed it and that by sending me through I'll be stuck where ever it is I end up.'

Jessie took a look over at the door seeing it widened a little more. The two armed men that were near to the students hadn't seemed to noticed, they were too busy looking at her questioning Morgan. The third was stood behind her and was at the wrong angle to be able to see. One of the students however had noticed, as his eyes widened, but he didn't say anything.

Morgan walked over to Jessie and stood close to her. 'You know nothing about my work. All the glitches have now been fixed and this portal will work perfectly,' he replied arrogantly.

'Then that must mean you trust me to come back through,' said Jessie, smirking at the way Morgan's face dropped. 'Because the only way you're going to know for sure all you're glitches are fixed is if I come back.' She could tell by the look on his face that he hadn't factored this into his plan.

'I'll teach you to be so insolent,' he cried as he hit her hard across the face with his hand.

'That's not anyway to treat a lady now is it?' came a voice from the other side of the room. Everyone turned and looked at Jack, who was standing there with Tosh, Owen and Ianto behind him. All of them had their weapons raised. Gwen was just coming through the door on the other side of the room.

Morgan turned and looked at the intruders. 'Captain Harkness, what a pleasure. What can I do for you?' he said innocently.

'I think you know exactly why I'm here Morgan. You need to stop these experiments and let Jessie go.'

Morgan merely smiled in response, unruffled by the demands coming from the other man. 'My experiments are my business, not yours.'

'They became my business when you started messing with the Rift to power them. You have no idea what you could unleash.'

'I am willing to take risks because the rewards will be worth it. As for her,' he said jerking a thumb in Jessie's direction, 'I fail to see why you care. She's not one of your team.'

'Jessie is a friend and I will not see her used in your experiment. Neither will I see you use any more students.'

'I don't think we'll agree on this matter Captain, so it would be in your team's best interest to leave. If you go now, no harm will come to you or them.'

'I think we all know that's not about to happen,' replied Jack.

'So be it,' answered Morgan, and he gestured to the armed men who immediately aimed their weapons at the Torchwood team. Morgan hit a button on the console and energy between the two posts started to power up. Jessie attempted to get away, but was held firmly by the man behind her. She vaguely heard Jack say 'You know what to do' before the sound of gunshots rang out in the lab. The two students took cover under one of the tables, too scared to try and flee to the door.

Owen and Gwen were busy keeping the two gunmen on the other side of the room busy while Tosh attached her PDA to one of the consoles and started typing frantically. Owen and Gwen had taken up position behind one of the lab tables and they waited until one of the men stood up to take a shot. Owen was faster and shot the man in the shoulder, causing him to drop his gun and fall to the floor. Gwen took the opportunity to move. She kept crouched down low and moved quickly around the tables until she was positioned behind the other man aiming at Owen.

'Drop the gun,' Gwen shouted.

The man spun around to take a shot at Gwen, but she had anticipated his move and ducked down. This had given Owen the time to get around to them and he tackled the man to the floor, punching him once to render him unconscious. Gwen picked up both the guns that the men had dropped and then helped Owen to secure them, before going over to see how much progress Tosh was making.

On the other side of the room Jack and Ianto had closed the gap between them and Morgan. They could hear what was happening behind them, but kept their focus on their own task. The third man and Jessie were perilously close to the portal which was rapidly reaching full power.

''Give it up Morgan, it's over,' said Jack.

'Come any closer and my colleague will shoot her.'

Jessie rolled her eyes, she was fed up of being held at gun point, this was the second time in twenty-four hours. She also realized she was in the middle of a stand off. Jack and Ianto couldn't risk making a move at Morgan while she was being held in-between them with a gun pointing at her, something was going to have to give. At that moment the man holding on to her shifted his feet slightly so that one of them was aligned next to hers. Seizing on the opportunity she lifted up her left foot and slammed it down hard onto the mans foot, causing him to cry out in pain and push her away from him. Jessie hit the wall next to them and landed on the floor in a heap. The man regained his composure quickly and turned to shoot her, but was stopped when Jack fired first and the man fell down next to the portal. Ianto rushed over to where Jessie had fallen, the concern evident on his face.

'Are you alright?' he asked worriedly.

'Yeah,' said Jessie rubbing the back of her head. 'At least I hit the back of my head this time and not the front again.'

Ianto smiled at the attempt at humour. 'I'm not sure whether what you did was brave or stupid.'

'Well, it got me out of the way.'

At that moment a bright blue burst of light flashed between the posts and the portal came to life. The energy emanating from it was strong, the man that Jack had shot had fallen near the edge and he was sucked into the portal. Ianto pulled Jessie closer to him, they could feel the strength of the energy and didn't dare to move for fear of being sucked through the portal too.

Jack turned to Tosh and shouted. 'What's taking so long, Tosh? We really need this portal closed.'

'I'm working as fast as I can, but it's taking time to get through all the codes on the system.' Tosh was getting frustrated, it shouldn't have taken this long but Morgan had some serious encryption on his programmes.

'You'll never get through my encryptions in time.' Morgan said.

Jack was about to retort when a loud high pitched sound was heard coming from the direction of the portal. He turned as he heard Gwen gasp.

'Oh my God there's something on the other side,' she shouted pointing in the direction of the sound.

In the middle of the blue light a dark mass could be seen heading towards them. It was hard to make out what it might be, but whatever it was had a lot of arms, or maybe they were legs. Whatever the limbs were they looked liked tentacles and one broke through the portal hitting the table in front of it before disappearing back in the light.

'What the bloody hell was that?' exclaimed Owen.

'See this is what I was talking about,' shouted Jack to Morgan. 'You have no idea what that thing is, shut the portal down now!'

Before Morgan had the chance to do anything, one of the tentacles snaked back out and grabbed a hold of him, pulling him towards the portal. Jack shot at it, trying to get it to let go, but it didn't seem to notice. It pulled Morgan back into the blue light.

'Tosh, give me some good news.'

'Nearly there, I have one last line of code to break.'

One of the tentacles whipped back out of the portal causing Jack to jump back. It was then joined by another, each one flapping around trying to grab hold of something. Gwen and Owen had joined Jack, keeping their distance from the flailing limbs, guns aimed, but no one shooting yet in case that just angered it more. Jack though was aware of how close Ianto and Jessie were. They hadn't moved for fear of getting caught out by the portal energy, and now they had shrunk back against the wall trying to make themselves as small as they could to avoid the limbs.

As one of the limbs was about to make contact with Ianto's foot Tosh cried, 'I've got it!' The blue light of the portal flashed brightly causing everyone in the room to cover their eyes. When they look again the portal had disappeared taking with it the thing that was trying to get through. Tosh finally released the breath she had been holding and slumped down into her chair. Jack walked over to Ianto and Jessie. Jessie had her head turned into Ianto's shoulder, while he had his arm protectively around her.

'You okay down there?' asked Jack.

'I think so', replied Ianto.

Jessie lifted her head up, tears shining in her eyes. 'I will be when I stop shaking. It's over right?' she added cautiously.

'It's over,' said Jack. He held his hand out and helped Jessie to her feet, before helping Ianto up. Jack pressed a kiss to Ianto's forehead as he did so, relieved that the Welshman was okay. 'Right we need to clean up in here, sort out the witnesses and then get back to the hub.'

While the other got to work, Ianto turned to Jessie, 'You sure you're okay?'

'I don't think I've been that scared since…' She let the sentence hang. 'I'll be fine though once I get out of here.'

'Come on, let's go outside and get some air, the others can cope without us for a bit.'

Ianto went over and told Jack where they were going and they left the lab to stand outside. It was getting late now and Jessie watched the few students who were still milling about oblivious to what had just happened a few feet away. They had no idea how close to disaster they had been.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N. This is it, the final chapter. I really like this chapter, it's one of my favourites. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and favourited this story, it is much appreciated. Also a big thanks to my beta Jolinar Jackson. This is my last story for a while because i have a lot on at the moment and i don't want to start something i can't update regularly. I will be back though. :) So as this is my last time of posting for a while please review, they really make my day. Kat xx

Chapter 11. 

The team plus Jessie arrived back at the Hub about two hours later. The equipment had been dismantled and brought back for destroying, and the students that had witnessed what had happened had been retconned. Gwen had also gone back to Ollie's to retcon him too, in the hopes he could then get back to a normal life. Ianto went straight to the coffee machine to make everyone a drink, while Tosh, Owen and Gwen sat down on the sofa to take a well earned break. Jack gestured for Jessie to follow him up to his office, pulling the chair in front of his desk out for her to sit, then he sat down in his own chair.

'How're you doing?' asked Jack.

'I was not trained to deal with things like this, but i think i'll be okay in a day or two.'

'You would have made a good field agent with the right training, you certainly gave Morgan a run for his money.'

Jessie smiled, 'That was born out of years of hatred for the man and everything Torchwood London did. That guy was part of something that destroyed my life. I hope this doesn't make me a bad person, but I feel like what happened to him is karma or something.'

'That doesn't make you a bad person. If it hadn't been for you, we would have never known what he was up to until it was too late. I hate to think what could have been unleashed upon Cardiff.'

'I didn't do much really, just when I saw Morgan I knew I had to tell the one person who'd believe me.'

Jack knew she meant Ianto. Jack looked out into the Hub and watched as Ianto gave out the coffees he had made, a small smile on his face which didn't go unnoticed by Jessie.

'You really care about him, don't you?' said Jessie, and Jack turned to look at her realizing that he'd been caught staring.

'Yeah, well it's..' Jack stumbled slightly on his words, not knowing how to describe his relationship with Ianto.

'Complicated?' supplied Jessie. Jack nodded, and Jessie rolled her eyes, 'That's exactly what he said.'

Jack looked at Jessie trying to see if he could read her expression, but it was impassive. He was now burning with curiosity about what Ianto told her. 'What else did he say?'

'I'm afraid I can't share that kind of information.'

Jack could tell by the cheeky smile on Jessie's face though that whatever it was hadn't been bad.

'Although..' she started, but was unsure of how to finish. A worried expression crossed her features.

'What is it?'

'You care a lot about him right. Well does he know that?'

Jack looked at her not quite sure what she wanted him to say. 'Of course he does,' he answered although if he were honest with himself he wasn't sure if that was true.

'It's just that he seems kind of unsure about something, it's almost like he can't believe that you're with him and i think he believes that at some point you're just going to up and leave.'

Jack sighed. He should have expected that. Running off with the Doctor the way he did had not been planned and he knew he'd hurt Ianto a lot. Tosh and Owen had given him hell over it, telling him just how much Ianto had retreated back into himself when Jack was away. Jack had been trying to make up for it ever since he had returned and he thought he was making progress, but obviously there was still some doubt there. He resolved there and then that he would make it clear to Ianto just how much he meant to him. 'That's not going to happen.'

'Like I said just make sure he knows that. If you don't I will come back and hurt you.'

'I can believe that,' said Jack smiling. 'I just want to make him as happy as he makes me.'

'If anyone deserves it he does and I'm glad he's been able to move on and find someone. Plus I have to admit, the two of you make a good looking couple.'

'We do don't we.' Jack said smiling. He then stood up, 'Come on we should go and join the others.'

Jessie stood up and followed him out of the office to join the others. Ianto came and stood next to Jessie. 'Everything alright?' he asked.

'Fine, Jack just wanted to talk over a few things.'

'So Jessie,' said Tosh, 'what are you going to do now? Will you stay in Cardiff?'

'Well, firstly I think I'm going to catch up on my sleep, I feel like I could sleep for a week. I'll be around for a little longer though, I need to see my time here through before I go back home. It should be a lot less stressful now.'

'You know, if the world of academia doesn't work out or you get bored with it, you'll always be welcome here,' said Jack. He honestly thought that Jessie could be an asset.

'I appreciate the offer Jack, but I think the boring world of academia will suit me fine.' Jessie smiled as she replied. 'It would be nice to see you all again though, under better circumstances so maybe we could all go out before I go back home, end of the world permitting.'

'That sounds like a great idea,' answered Tosh. She had come to like Jessie in the short time she had known her.

'There's still one thing that hasn't been resolved though,' Owen spoke up. The others looked at him puzzled.

'What's that?' asked Jack.

'I still want to know what got tea boy here turning so red when you mentioned a Halloween party.'

At Owen's words Ianto immediately blushed and Jessie started sniggering. 'It's honestly not worth discussing,' said Ianto, 'it was a long time ago when I was a different person.'

Jessie had managed to pull herself together by the time she spoke, 'Oh come on it wasn't that long ago and it's really not that bad.'

'Not that bad,' he replied. 'It's alright for you, what you ended up wearing that night was…' Ianto trailed off realising that he had given some of it away.

'So it involves dressing up?' asked Jack, his eyes wide and his mind working overtime.

'Damn,' replied Ianto, he had hoped he'd got away with what he said. 'It's not like it was a regular thing, it was for a party.'

All eyes turned to Jessie, as Ianto clearly didn't want to be the one to elaborate further. 'There was a woman in London called Abigail Sanders, and she was well known for the parties she threw. She had them for every occasion, and usually they were fancy dress. That particular Halloween she was inspired by the film, The Rocky Horror.'

The others started to laugh at the thought of this, all except for Jack who was trying his hardest to stop all the images his mind was coming up with. It was taking a lot of self control.

'In my defence I was set up,' said Ianto. 'You all ganged up on me, three against one.'

'You were ganged up on?' queried Jack.

'Yeah, well more specifically the girls did. Sam was on my side originally, he didn't really want to have to dress up either and then you and Lisa got to him, and suddenly he's all, you know maybe it won't be so bad,' Ianto said indignantly.

The four other team members all looked at each other when Ianto mentioned Lisa, it was something he never did, not after what happened. During what had been happening they had all been careful not to mention her, Jack had even thought that Jessie had been avoiding mentioning her too. Jessie and Lisa had obviously been friends.

'It wasn't like that,' said Jessie and Ianto just raised an eyebrow at her. 'Well maybe it was a little. Lisa and I knew you would be the one that needed the most convincing so we had to get Sam on our side. Sam was used to Abigail's wacky themes and although he wasn't ecstatic about the idea of what he was going to end up wearing, he knew that the parties were always amazing so he folded. You have to admit, the party was amazing, the hangovers the next day attest to that.'

Ianto smiled, 'True, although I don't remember that much about the party. I do remember the hangover.' Jessie smiled too at the memories. As they both remembered a brief flicker of sadness flashed through both their eyes, but Jessie soon steered the conversation back.

'Don't even think about getting revenge on me for telling them about this because I have pictures.'

Jack eyes lit up, he moved over to Jessie and put his arm around her shoulders, 'You know, I think I should give you my email address so that you can send me some of these pictures.'

Ianto moved closer and whispered in Jack's ear, 'If you ever want to come anywhere near me again, you'll retract that request.'

'You wouldn't?'

Ianto pulled back and raised an eyebrow, 'Do you want to test me?'

Jack shook his head and then turned to Jessie, 'On second thought maybe you should keep hold of the photos.'

The others laughed at the way Jack had suddenly changed his mind, Ianto had obviously threatened to deprive him of coffee or sex, maybe even both.

'Look, I need to get going,' said Jessie. 'It's been great meeting you all and I hope I get to see you again soon.'

'I'll show you out,' Ianto replied. Jessie gave everyone a hug and then followed Ianto to the invisible lift. When they reached the top she hugged Ianto too.

'We have to stay in touch better this time. I know you don't have a lot of free time, but an email every so often would be nice. I've realized over the past couple of days how much I've missed your friendship.'

'I've missed you too, and I will make more of an effort as well.'

'Take care and be safe,' said Jessie and she kissed him on the cheek before stepping off the platform and walking away across the Plass.

Ianto watched her go and then took the lift back down to the Hub. When he got there he realised it was very quiet, the others were nowhere to be seen. He walked up the stairs to Jack's office expecting to find the older man sat behind his desk. As he entered he could tell that Jack wasn't there, but he didn't have the chance to ponder where Jack was as he found himself pinned against the wall of the office with Jack's lips pressing against his. Ianto immediately found himself relaxing into the kiss. After Jack had pulled away for air Ianto said, 'Somebody's eager.'

'Got to make up for lost time,' answered Jack before leaning in and giving Ianto another kiss this one more passionate than the first.

'It's only been one night Jack, and what about the others?' Ianto asked somewhat breathlessly.

'I sent them home, it's been a long day and there's no rift predictions for the immediate future.'

'I see and how do you intend for us to spend the rest of the day?'

'I have a few ideas,' replied Jack raising his eyebrow suggestively. 'First though, are you alright after everything that's happened over the last couple of days?' Jack's face had now turned to one of concern.

'Yeah, I am actually. Being held hostage and nearly getting pulled into a parallel universe aside, it was good to see Jessie again. I thought when she first showed up that it was going to bring up all kinds of bad memories that I didn't want to face, and while it was hard at times having to think about London, I was okay.'

'Really, even when she was talking about that party?'

'I really was. I think that's the first time I've ever thought about a good memory from back then and not felt the pain of what happened later on. I think it was because I was talking to Jessie, it felt natural. That probably doesn't make much sense.' Ianto tailed off, unsure of what to say. He meant it though, he hadn't even realised he had mentioned Lisa at first and he found afterwards that the memory he and Jessie were talking about hadn't hurt to think about.

'It makes perfect sense,' replied Jack bending his head slightly to press a kiss to the other man's forehead. 'You do know though that if you ever want to talk to me about that time, you can?'

'I know.'

'Especially if it involves more stories about you dressing up in various costumes.' The grin was back on Jack's face as he said this.

'I don't think so,' said Ianto, but then with a mischievous glint in his eyes added, 'how about we make some memories of our own.'

'That Mr Jones is the best idea I've heard all day.' Jack took hold of Ianto's hand and led him towards his bunker.

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